


simply having a wonderful christmastime

by seemeeimbeebee



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Past Baelfire | Neal Cassidy/Emma Swan, pining Killian, slight neal bashing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-27
Updated: 2017-12-27
Packaged: 2019-02-22 10:43:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13165245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seemeeimbeebee/pseuds/seemeeimbeebee
Summary: After their Christmas plans fall through, Killian is determined to give Emma and Henry Swan the best Christmas they’d ever known. Modern AU.





	simply having a wonderful christmastime

**Author's Note:**

> This is for my CSSS giftee dragon-princess ! Sorry it took me so long to get this to you, but I wanted to make sure everything worked. I hope you like it! Also if you like Neal, there’s a little bit of Neal bashing in this fic sorry! Also, the spelling mistakes in Henry’s letter to Santa are deliberate! Also, Henry is called Henry Swan in this fic because this fic has Emma raising Henry since he was born!

The clatter of bells, the door sounding open, and a rushed, “Killy! Killy! Killy! Killy!” alerted Killian Jones to the fact that his morning had officially begun. He watched a small mop of brown hair get closer and closer to his counter, before he took pity on the three year old and stepped out to greet him.

“Hey, little man,” Killian said cheerfully, scooping Henry up into his arms.

The boy was the son of his best friend in the whole world, Emma Swan. The two would stop by the diner every morning before Emma dropped Henry off at preschool before she went to work as a cop in Boston’s police department. Killian only took the morning shifts before he went to go teach at the local university. He probably would’ve quit ages ago, had it not been for the beautiful blond and the vivacious boy that greeted him every weekday.

Well that and Granny was pretty amenable with his teaching schedule and was easy enough to persuade to give him more time off before the end of each semester.

“What’d you do with your mum, huh?” He shook the boy a little bit and when Henry began to laugh, Killian began to laugh to. “You know she turns into a big grumpy bear without her coffee.”

“I resent that,” Emma said tiredly, a few footsteps behind her son as she entered the diner. “But because it’s Christmas, I’ll forgive you.”

“It’s not Christmas yet,” Killian replied cheekily as he produced a warm cup of coffee—one milk, one sugar and for the love of God, Jones as hot as you can humanly make it—and put it in her hands. “Now, let me see if I got the little man’s order right. Hmm…boiled mackerel and brussel sprouts?”

“No!” Henry giggled. Emma even let out a little laugh as she sat down to drink her coffee. “It’s Friday, Killy! Means I get the special breakfast!” 

“Oh, that’s right,” Killian laughed, setting the boy down beside his mother. “One big boy pancake for our resident big boy,” he said, putting the plate in front of Henry. “With a side of bacon to share with him and Mum.”

Henry began tearing into his pancake when a nudge from his mother stopped him. “What do we say to Killian?” she asked, raising her eyebrows at her son.

“Fank yew, Killy!” Henry said through a mouthful of pancake.  
  
“Thanks, Killian,” Emma chuckled, taking a sip of coffee and nibbling on some bacon.

“Now, love,” Killian said, leaning against the counter of the bar. “Are you sure I can’t persuade you into something a bit more hearty and substantial? I’ve got a nice bear claw with your name on it.”

“No, no, I’m okay,” Emma laughed, though it didn’t escape Killian’s notice how Emma’s eyes went a bit wide and she licked her lips a little at the mention of the words ‘bear claw’. “But I might stop after I have my first meeting.

“Mommy is going to talk to Daddy about Christmas!” Henry exclaimed cheerfully. “Daddy is gonna ask Santa to get me presents instead of Mommy this year! And we’re going to go to Daddy’s house, all three of us together, and have Christmas with Daddy! We’re gonna go the whole weekend! Mommy is gonna pick me up after school and then we’re all gonna go get dinner together!”

One look at Emma’s face told Killian exactly how his friend felt about this. And one look at Henry’s also told him exactly why she was doing this. Neal, Emma’s ex “whatever”—as she liked to say—had come into town a few months prior, looking to reconnect with Henry and Emma.

Emma had kept him at arm’s length, but Henry embraced his father’s return to his life with all the love and joy in his little heart. Not that Killian blamed him. If he’d been young when his father returned, he probably would’ve done the same thing.  
  
Still, his heart twisted with sympathy when he saw how Emma’s lips tightened into a firm line. “Well that will be fun,” he encouraged the boy, wanting to keep the Christmas spirit up. “Christmas with you and your mummy and your daddy.” Henry nodded eagerly. He fished a quarter out of his pocket. “Here, whatever you want to play on the jukebox. Your choice,” he said.  
  
“Can I, Mama?” Henry asked excitedly, looking between her and Killian so quickly he was afraid the boy was going to get whiplash.

“Yeah, sure, kid,” Emma said fondly, giving him a second quarter. “Here. Have two quarters on your old mom.”

“You’re not old, Mommy,” Henry said seriously, before the other quarter and racing off to the jukebox.

Emma smiled as she continued to sip at her coffee. She raised an eyebrow in Killian’s direction when he realized he’d been watching her for a little too long. “If you stared at me any harder, you’d put a hole in my head,” she teased, giving him an easy smile. “And I’m pretty sure I’ll be getting those from my ex whatever all weekend. What are you thinking?”

Killian felt the color rise to his cheeks, but he leaned on the counter to talk to her. “Well, I was thinking that you’re a good Mum,” he started. He was also thinking that she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen and he was infernally jealous of her ex to get to see her lit up by tree lights. “I was also thinking if you needed an escape, I’d offer to help. Rights of the best friend and all. Besides, it’s not like I’ve a family or anything.”

Emma considered this and a slow smile spread across her lips. “All right,” she agreed.

Killian let out an uproarious laugh in spite of himself. “Emma Swan, accepting my help on the first go?” he teased her, leaning on his elbows. “A Christmas miracle, truly.”

“Oh, don’t start. Besides, you have to acknowledge that you still have family. You have me and Henry,” Emma complained good-naturedly, shoving him away playfully. She couldn’t help but smile into her coffee, but only when he nodded in acquiescence to her demands. “Henry’s so excited for this. And he’ll get something I never have. A full family Christmas.

Killian reached across the counter to hold her hand. “You are his family,” he reminded Emma seriously. “I’m sure he’d have been thrilled if it was just you two exchanging presents and then coming to mine for dinner like last year.”

“Yeah, but he’s three. Which means this will be the start of the Christmases that he’ll actually remember. And as much as I love how your apartment looked like Christmas threw up in there…I just…wanna give him everything,” Emma mumbled, starting to grimace. “God, that probably sounds so stupid.”

“Never stupid,” Killian replied softly. “Is there any way that I can help?”

“Recommend me a rum that I can get trashed on,” Emma muttered darkly. Meeting his eyes, her expression softened. “Nah, I’m a big girl. I’ll be okay, Killian. I think once we survive the dinner tonight, we should be okay.” She smiled, her thumb brushing across an imaginary speck of dirt across the mouth of the coffee cup. “You know the restaurant in the mall?” she asked. “The one that overlooks Santa’s workshop? I got us a seat by the window and that’s where we’re having dinner tonight.”

Killian smiled widely. “Oh, Henry will absolutely love that. I bet you anything that’s something he’ll remember more than Neal,” he offered, waggling his eyebrows to try and get her to laugh.

“No putting him down,” Emma said seriously, though she couldn’t help but smile at his eyebrow waggle. “Seriously, he is doing a great thing. He offered to buy all the presents, since I have for the last two years. He’s getting the food, everything. And he’s trying.”

“Is it working?” Killian asked, his expression falling a little.

Emma turned to look at her son, who was still scrolling through the music at the jukebox, Granny barking suggestions at him from the kitchen. “On Henry, yeah. And that’s all that matters, really.”

* * *

After a long day of grading final exams on the use of literary devices in Victorian prose and poetry, Killian was more than content to stretch out on his couch and put on a Christmas movie. The smell of Granny’s famous lasagna wafted through his nose. Going to his collection of Christmas movies, he began humming to himself before his finger stopped on “Love, Actually”.

“Now that’s not a proper Christmas movie is it?” he wondered out loud, privately wondering if he ought to indulge himself on what he conceived to be his grossly inappropriate crush on Emma by watching it. A knock on the door pulled him out of his thoughts, and he frowned.

He wasn’t expecting anyone, especially not at 10 o’clock at night. Killian walked to his peephole and peered through it. He only saw a red leather jacket and blond hair and he threw the door open. “Emma?” he asked worriedly.

Tears were running down her cheeks, her nose was pink from the cold and she was holding a sleeping Henry in her arms. “You…you said that I could come here if I needed to?” Emma sniffled, trying to keep her breathing under control so she wouldn’t wake Henry.  
  
“Aye, of course. I’ll take Henry, you sit on the couch, and you can tell me what happened, okay?” Killian murmured, taking the sleeping Henry from her arms. He brought Henry to his room, took the boy’s shoes off and tucked him into bed. He almost went right back to her, but decided to take a detour to the kitchen.

She hated the instant hot cocoa mix. But any port in a storm, he figured.

So, a few minutes later, he came back out with her favorite: hot cocoa with whipped cream and cinnamon. She weakly smiled and rest her head on his shoulder when he sat beside her on the couch. He put the cup of cocoa in front of her, but she didn’t touch it.

He quickly searched for “It’s A Wonderful Life” on the television, hoping he could find it because it was her favorite Christmas movie. He couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief when he found it, but he turned the volume on so low that it could just be heard underneath their conversation.

“This is stupid,” Emma croaked out, rubbing her eyes. “I work for the Boston PD for godssake. I track down criminals, I’ve seen crime scenes worse than any Law and Order episode. I shouldn’t be this upset about a stupid guy…”

“What happened?” Killian asked sympathetically, drawing an arm around her. She curled into him with a weepy little huff. He began to soothingly rub her back, hoping to keep her calm.

“It’s not even me I’m upset for, you know?” she asked, wiping at one eye with the heel of her palm. “It’s Henry! Because Neal was supposed to take care of everything, I don’t have anything. I don’t have Santa presents for him, I just have the presents from me! I don’t have a Christmas dinner; the stores are going to be swamped--”

“Slow down, love,” Killian told her, giving her a gentle squeeze. “Now, tell me what happened, and we can fix this together, yeah?” Like he didn’t have a guess as to what went down at their dinner tonight. “It’s gonna be okay, Swan. Everything’s gonna be all right.”

Emma swallowed the lump in her throat and started, “So Henry and I got a picture with Santa, and the line was long. We were running late. Like 45 minutes late for the time we said we were going to meet. And my phone was dead, so I couldn’t text Neal to tell him that we were running late.” She exhaled slowly, clenching and unclenching her right hand. Killian slipped his hand into hers without thinking, trying to give her something to hold onto, to anchor herself with.

“We got to the restaurant, and I’m all flustered and babbling because I think Neal is there, right?” she continued. “So the hostess goes to try and find him, and he’s not there in the restaurant. My first thought is that he was there, and that he left because we thought he bailed. I ask her if there’s a seat by an outlet so I can charge my phone.”

She squeezed his hand and exhaled again, and it broke his heart to see all the fight seemingly drained out of her. “She finds one because this hostess was honestly a miracle worker, and so I order a lemonade for Henry and a ginger ale for myself while we wait for my phone to charge.” She squeezed his hand. “My phone turned on, and there’s not a word from him. It’s like 8 at this point, which is an hour and a half after we agreed to meet. So I texted him, asking him if he’d tried to get in touch with me before.”

She let out a hollow sound that could’ve been a laugh. “He didn’t even answer me. I text again. I call his phone. I call his secretary, who said he’d gone home for the evening. I call his home. No answer. I’m texting him over and over, trying to get a word. I order Henry dinner, sugary drinks, anything. At this point the hostess knows something’s up so she just comes over with like twelve coloring pages and the three of us are sitting and coloring together.”

Emma let out a long breath, tucking her knees underneath her as she got more comfortable on Killian’s couch. “Finally, he answers me telling me that something’s come up, he can’t have us over for Christmas. And to tell Henry he’s really, really sorry and he’ll make it up to him another time.” She blinked and looked at Killian. “That was at 9:30. Henry was asleep at the table, so I just…paid, brought him to the car. And I didn’t want to go home. So we just came here.”

“Oh, Emma,” Killian whispered, squeezing her tighter. “I’m so sorry that happened to you, love. I’m so sorry.”

“How am I supposed to tell Henry that his Dad just didn’t show up for him?” Emma asked brokenly. “God, Killian, I’ve put my kid exactly what I went through and I never wanted that for him!” A sob clawed its way out of her throat and she seemed to crumple into him.

“No, no, love, you haven’t done that to him at all,” Killian whispered, rocking her back and forth. “You couldn’t control Neal’s actions and that boy knows you love him with your whole heart. He knows, Emma. He knows you love him.” An idea sparked into his head and his eyes brightened up. “We’ll just have to give him the best Christmas here then, aye? You’re already packed for the weekend, it’d break his spirits even more to go home.”

Emma bit her lip and turned her head away, starting to calm down at the reassurance from her best friend that she was in no way failing her son. “I don’t want to be an imposition,” she started, clearing her throat. “I can…I can pull this off. Just me and Henry,” she said determinedly. “I know I can.”

“Aye, I’ve yet to see you fail,” Killian said confidently.  “But who said you ever needed to do this alone?” He nudged her gently with his shoulder. “It’s not like I had Christmas plans. And two heads are better than one, yeah?”

Emma absolutely beamed at him.

* * *

The next morning found him cursing at pancake batter. He’d wanted to make it snowflake shaped for Henry’s sake, but he was absolutely failing.

“Google says to put it in a cookie cutter,” Emma called from the kitchen table.

“I did! It keeps running out when I remove the cookie cutter,” Killian grumbled.

“Are you waiting until the edges set?” Emma challenged.

“No, because I don’t want the cookie cutter to melt if I leave it in the pan for too long.”

“Killian, your cookie cutter is made of metal. It’s not gonna melt!”

“Why is there shouting?” Henry yawned, rubbing his eyes as he came into the kitchen. “An’why are we at Killy’s house?”

Emma worried her lip with her teeth. “C’mere, baby,” she murmured, scooping Henry up into her arms. “You know how we were supposed to go to Daddy’s this weekend and spend Christmas with Daddy?” The boy nodded. “Well, um…” She squeezed him a little bit tighter. “He won’t be able to have us over for Christmas anymore. That’s why he didn’t come meet us for dinner last night.”

It didn’t escape Killian’s notice that no matter how upset she was, Emma didn’t do anything to bad mouth Neal in front of Henry.

“Oh,” Henry said softly. His eyes began to water, and his little lip began to wobble. “Does that mean no Christmas?” he asked, looking up at Emma.

“No, no, no,” Emma soothed, pressing her forehead to his. “No, baby. Of course there’s still gonna be Christmas. We’re just gonna have Christmas with Killy. Is that okay?” Henry nodded but buried his face into Emma’s shirt. “Oh, I know, kid. I know. It is really disappointing. I know how much you wanted to see Daddy and spend Christmas with Daddy. I know. I know, kid.”

The little boy clung to her a little bit tighter and she cupped her hand around his head. “It’s okay to be upset. You just cry it out and when you’re ready to talk, Mommy will be right here to listen, okay?” she whispered. Henry nodded again.

Killian was more determined than ever to make the pancakes perfect so that the little boy would smile and have a better start to his Christmas. Henry’s mother deserved that as well.

“Mama?” Henry asked against Emma’s neck after a little bit of time. “How will Santa know where to bring the presents?”

 “Well,” Emma said brightly, situating Henry so she could look him in the eye. “Santa is magic, so he’ll know that you’re not with Daddy like you told him you were going to be in your letter. So, Santa will know to drop off the presents at Killian’s instead.” She tickled the boy gently and smiled brighter when he began to laugh.

“Can we write a letter to make sure?” Henry asked, looking up at her, starting to shrug off his disappointment.

“Of course we can,” Emma murmured fondly, pressing her forehead together.

Killian was so distracted just watching mother and son, that he left the cookie cutter on a little too long. This time, however, the pancake batter didn’t run when he removed it.

“Told you,” Emma said smugly.

He couldn’t find it in his heart to be all that annoyed with her, though he did flick some pancake batter in her general direction.

* * *

“How was shopping, love?” Killian asked that night after Henry had gone to bed. The two had decided it was better to divide and conquer. Killian took Henry sledding and ice skating while Emma had gone food and Santa shopping. The idea was to wear Henry out so much that he’d sleep through all the gift wrapping. 

“I only got the food,” Emma agonized, putting her forehead against the table. “Work called when I was out food shopping, they needed me to come in for a bit. I made sure to run here and put the food away, but then I was there for hours and when I came out, all the stores were closed.”

“He finished his letter to Santa before he went to bed, by the way,” Killian murmured, sitting beside her. “He made me swear not to read it, but desperate times, aye, love?”

“I’m not even going to be able to get him what he wants for Christmas,” Emma muttered, not moving her forehead from the table. “All the stores are closed and there’s no way I’m going to make some poor Amazon worker do a Christmas day delivery.” She closed her eyes. “I don’t know what to do, Killian.”

Killian gently squeezed her shoulder and pulled Emma into his arms. “Hey,” he murmured. “I think that you should borrow one of my bath bombs, lock yourself in the bathroom for an hour to soak and let me figure all this out. Okay?”

Emma shook her head. “You’ve spent so much time with him today. Let me at least figure this one out so I don’t feel like a total failure of a mom,” she muttered.

“You’re not a failure,” Killian rebuked. “And I shan’t hear of anyone talking about my best friend like that.”

She laughed weakly, picking her head off the table. “Fine. No failure talk. But how the hell am I  actually going to get toys for a three year old on Christmas Eve after sundown?” she wondered out loud, trying not to feel defeated again. “I don’t even know what he asked for from Santa, I gave that first letter to Neal and didn’t read it because I didn’t think I’d have to worry about it.”

“Well, let’s see what he wants first and go from there,” Killian suggested. Emma and Killian moved in closer together to read Santa’s letter together.

“Dear Santa,” the letter read. “I am veree sorree that I am righting you on Christmas Eve.”

“It was very important to him that he spelled Christmas Eve correctly,” Killian laughed.

“Let me finish reading,” Emma said exasperatedly.

“My Mommy and I arnt at my Daddy’s house. We are at Killy’s house. Pleez bring our presents here. Pleez also getted Killy a nice present beecuz he is nice. Thank u. Henry Swan,” the letter finished. Emma’s finger traced along some of Henry’s askew lettering a fond and loving look on her face. Killian couldn’t help but smile at Henry’s big heart.

But of course, now they were faced with a huge problem: they had no idea what Henry wanted for Christmas.

“Okay,” Emma said, starting to pace back and forth in Killian’s kitchen. She didn’t look agitated anymore, just trying to put the pieces together. “Let’s brainstorm and see if we can get this done. We’ve got about ten hours to put this together. We can do this. We _will_ do this. I’ve got a friend whose dad makes wooden toys for a living and he owes me a couple of favors. What about you?”

“Let me go through my contacts and figure it out.”

Five hours, and a few incredibly desperate favors called in later, Emma and Killian crashed onto the couch, too tired to make it anywhere else. Henry’s presents were beautifully wrapped underneath the tree, and the ones from “Santa” were appropriately tagged.

“Do you wanna watch a movie?” Emma mumbled. “My brain’s wired. I don’t think I can sleep. What if he doesn’t like his gifts?” Her fingers drummed anxiously against the side of the couch and her leg was bouncing nervously.

Killian turned on the television. “Let’s get a few hours of sleep in before we worry about that, okay?” he murmured, on the verge of sleep himself.

“Okay.” Emma cuddled into his side, rolling over to watch the television. “Move, you’re pushing me off the couch.”

Killian nodded and shuffled, situating them so Emma’s head was resting on his chest. “Better?” She nodded. His hand began idly rubbing her back. “You know, Swan. I hate to alarm you, but we make a good team.”

He felt the smile against his shirt rather than saw it. “Yeah, I already knew that we were a good team,” she murmured. “I was just waiting for you to get with the program.”

“Oh yeah?” When did you first figure it out?” he whispered into her hair. She didn’t answer. “Swan?” he rasped, looking down at her. “Swan?” he gave her a gentle little shake.

Emma was already fast asleep in his arms.

He didn’t have the heart to move her.

* * *

“It’s Christmas!” Henry hollered, startling them both from sleep. “Wake up! Wake up! It’s Christmas!”

Emma and Killian both roused at the same time, blushing when they realized how they had fallen asleep the night before. They both opened their mouth to apologize, to explain, when the boy clambered up on the couch between them.

“What are you doing out here?” Henry asked curiously, looking between the two adults. “Were you waiting for Santa to come?” 

“Yep, that’s right, buddy,” Emma said, sitting on the other end of the couch, pulling Henry into her lap. “We were waiting for Santa. We wanted to make sure that he could give you your gifts even though we ended up not being at your Dad’s house.”

Killian sighed. Right. There was no way that he could actually have a future with Emma Swan. Not like that anyway.

And it was fine, really.

As much as he loved her, he wanted her happiness more.

“C’mon, let’s open presents!” Emma exclaimed excitedly, tickling her son. Henry squealed with delight and allowed himself to be set on the floor.

The boy rushed to the tree, yelling, “Presents!” at the top of his lungs. He immediately dug through the pile and ignored several with his name on it. At last, he found one with his mother’s name on it and brought it to her. Then he went back to the pile and made sure to find one for Killian and put the package on his lap. Only then would Henry take one for himself and began to open it.

When Killian looked back at Emma, surprised he had gotten anything at all from Santa, Emma just smiled slyly and went about opening her gift.

Killian painstakingly opened the gift. It was a wooden swan and inscribed on the back read, “To our favorite honorary Swan. Love, Emma and Henry-2017”. He felt his eyes well with tears and suddenly he felt two pairs of arms around him.

“We really do love you,” Emma whispered softly, tightening her grip around him. “Thanks for making this the best Christmas ever.”

He was content to hold them for a little while longer, but Henry had other plans. The boy pulled back out of their hug with a mischievous giggle. “You’re under mistletoe! You have to kiss!” he declared, standing on his toes to hold the mistletoe over Killian’s head.

Killian looked at Emma, ready to diffuse the situation with a quick explication and perhaps a distraction with bacon. But Emma grabbed him by the collar of his shirt into a kiss.

“I’ve been waiting forever to do that,” she admitted against his lips when they broke apart.

“We better do it one more time,” Killian murmured gently pressing his forehead to hers. His thumb gently trailed across her cheek, his eyes cataloguing her facial expression to make sure that this was what she wanted. “Just to make sure it was real.”

Emma’s bright laughter rang through the whole apartment.


End file.
